Bond of souls
by JupiterGodess
Summary: In an era of brutal war, two souls with the same wish to protect their loved ones, their village and their fellow shinobi, find together. DanxTsunade from Dan's p.o.v.


**Bond of souls**

When Dan arrived at the meeting of high-ranked Jonin, he had no idea what a profound impact it was going to have on his life. Nor did he expect it.

Once all the summoned Jonin had arrived, the meeting began in earnest. It was headed by the Third Hokage and his two advisors. As expected, the talk was about the war was about how the war was going and Konoha's casualties. It made Dan almost sigh in frustration. It was always the same, and none of the words spoken hinted at a soon end of the war. Besides, he disliked hearing about how many people had died this time.

Especially since that day.

Then the talk turned to how they should proceed further. A kunoichi stood up. Dan knew her; there was almost noone who didn't. Tsunade, granddaughter of the First Hokage and one of the three Legendary Sannin, which was her team consisting of her, Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Dan, even though knowing who she was, had never had to do much with her. From what he had been able to observe from afar and heard other people tell, however, she was a nice girl, both in looks and in charakter, and of course, a very strong kunoichi and one of the best medical ninjas there were.

But then she began to speak. Her words dripped into Dan's consciousness, but they needed a few seconds to register.

„First, if a four man platoon must take on an isolated mission in enemy territory and one member is a medical specialist, the platoon's rate of survival and mission success should increase greatly. Therefore, we should train highly skilled ninja medics, develop a medical organisation and establish a solid structure for it. I believe this is our number one priority right now."

Dan stared at the kunoichi with light brown hair. He almost didn't believe his ears.

For quite some time now, he had been trying to find a way on how to minimize casualties, deaths as well as injuries, as much as possible, almost going crazy because he found no solution. Well, he had had similar thoughts like Tsunade had voiced them just now, but he hadn't gotten this clear an idea about it. He couldn't have put them into such clear, direct words. But the worst was, that he had never found anyone who supported him with his ideas. The entire village seemed solely fixated on winning the war, without taking the casualties into consideration.

Dan smiled to himself. And he kinda admired Tsunade for standing up for her beliefs like that. And with her medical skills and experience, she knew what she was talking about.

„What you say is true…", the Third Hokage admitted. „But we're at war right now. Establishing a medical organisation will take time, and we lack the knowledge to do it. The enemy won't wait for us."

For a moment, Tsunade looked shocked. Then she exploded. „What did you say, geezer?! Then we'll never…"

Dan stood. It was time for him to act. He couldn't let Tsunade face the Hokage and his councelors alone. Maybe, after her speech, he could convince the Hokage to follow her suggestion. „I agree with her idea", he declared. „I do not wish the sacrifice of our fallen ninjas go to waste. We should learn something from it. "

When the meeting was over, neither he nor Tsunade had had success. However, the Hokage had promised to set a small task force on calculating their possibilites of increasing the numbers of medical ninjas. He also said he'd keep the idea of a medical institution in his mind, to put it into realisation as soon as it would be possible.

Dan was just turning into the street, when Tsunade came running after him.

„Uhm… thank you for back then."

He couldn't help but smile. Not everyone would have said thanks in this situation. Besides: „What you said was true." When she said nothing, he added after a brief pause: „It's late. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Ah, there it was again, his big-brother-behaviour. He had asked her out of pure impulse, out of the moment, before even thinking about it.

Tsunade seemed surprised too. „What? You'll do that? Where's your house?"

He just smiled. „The opposite way."

„Then you don't have to." Despite her words, Tsunade seemed a slight bit disappointed.

„I don't mind", Dan assured her and started to walk. „I want to talk with you, too. Also, this path was my favourite when I walked to pick up my little sister from the Academy."

„What?", he could hear Tsunade's quiet question behind him.

He halted. Dan wasn't an unsocial guy, just the opposite. He had many friends. But he hardly talked with anyone about the topic of his younger sister. It was just too painful. So why had he given Tsunade that bit of information about himself?

„She died in that night raid on Konoha a year ago."

For a long while, Tsunade said nothing. Dan was silent too, not turning toward her, curious about her reaction. Eventually, he heard her steps closing up on him. When she reached him, he set into motion again. In silence, they walked for a about a minute. Then, out of the blue, Tsunade stretched out her hand and took his, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

„I too… had a little brother", she said, while they walked on as if nothing had happened. „He… died on one of his missions."

Now that she mentioned it, Dan recalled it. He had heard of it. Of course he had. Nawaki had been grandson of the first Hokage, brother to the Sannin Tsunade and thus almost as famous as her. News about his death were bound to spread across the village like a wildfire.

Silently, he gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

Later, when he was alone in his flat, he reflected on that walk with Tsunade.

,We're the same', he thought. ,We both have lost a younger sibling, and we both are concerned about the fate of our fellow shinobi. Could it be… could it be that our souls are related?'

„Heh."

He stared at the ceiling of his bedchamber, Tsunade's face in front of his eyes.

A soul relative… would that not be funny for him, the one who had created the Reika no Jutsu? But there was no denying it. He felt as if he had met a kindred soul, someone who thought exactly the same ash im. Someone with whom he could talk better about the things that were in his mind than with anyone else.

It was almost as if their souls had connected, bound together by a strong bond.

,Ah… but I really am looking forward to get to know Tsunade better.'

And for the first time since his sister's death, Dan felt a spark of happiness in his heart.


End file.
